"Are you going to wait for me here?" Kai asked, wondering how the two would meet up after.
Waving his hand, Atar reassured Kai, "I'll be here when you're done."
"Well, ok. See ya then."
Quickly equipping his 'Spider Queen Cloak,' Kai let out a sigh of relief that no one saw him before or after. The group was still talking in front of the portal; closer now, he could hear their conversation.
"I'll take the lead, Lucas, Donte stay behind me! Tommy, debuff and heal when you can!"
"Yes"
"Rogger"
"I'll do my best!"
'Debuff?'
The man talking had a scraggly beard and short, wild, black hair. Heavy metal encased his body, giving the man good defense. On his heavy metal suit, on the back was a shield the same size as the man. The shield was a silver circle with spikes on the front.
By the way, he was talking; Kai could only assume he was the leader of the small group of four men.
The other members wore robes of different colors, yet all had untamed brown hair like that of the leader.
Next to them was another group of four, yet this time all girls.
The groups were almost identical besides the opposite gender; the girl giving off her plan wore heavy metal armor and a shield. Her straight brown hair went to her shoulders.
The three other girls wore different color robes, listening intently to the girl's strategy.
'Are they all related?'
Battling the urge to check with {Inspect}, Kai ultimately chose not to, remembering Atar's warning. Only after making sure he was covered entirely did he start walking toward the blue portal.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Yeah, don't you know who we are?"
The two group leaders noticed Kai and stepped to block his way.
'Sigh, really?'
"Did you not hear us?! This dungeon is reserved for us, the Starla Family! Did ya hear that? We're part of the Starla family; if ya know what's good for ya, leave!" The female leader spoke up.
'They're part of the Starla family? Really? And why and how would they reserve a dungeon?'
Kai stood there for a few seconds, not answering them. He knew they weren't that strong and was confident if he had to, he could get away.
'What to do. Sigh. Atar probably knew all about this!' Kai shook his head. If it was between offending Atar or the Starla family, it wasn't close. One knew what he was, while the other knew nothing about him.
'He did say to think about this as a test; maybe this is what he meant?'
"Hey!" A shout from the male leader brought Kai out of his thoughts.
'I'll just run past them, I don't want to attract too much attention, so I can't hurt them.'
Slightly bending his knees, he put strength into his legs. Kai leaped through the air, arriving at the portal in only a few seconds.
"Wait-"
Was all he could hear before making contact with the blue portal.
The familiar feeling of entering a portal hit Kai. It was like being free from shackles; nothing mattered in those few seconds; it was the feeling of true peace. It's what Kai thought enlightenment would feel like.
Leaving the mystical comfort, Kai walked out the portal.
The sky was a brilliant orange, and the sun shone brightly, with few shiny white clouds. The light breeze caressed his skin. Walking through tall, brown-orange grass, Kai smiled. The weather was pleasant, and the view was beautiful.
If it weren't for the monstrous mountain in short distance or the many Fire Cat that laid down low, waiting to pounce, Kai wouldn't mind spending a long time here.
There was occasionally a tree that sprouted from the ground; they had a taupe trunk and dry brown leaves. Throughout the many branches of the trees, he spotted many Fire Cat's waiting for prey to walk under them.
"{Inspect}"
{Fire Cat}
{Tier:1 Level-25}
It was the same for the other Fire Cat's he saw.
'This floor must be level 25-30 only.' Kai deduced. If it was anything like the other dungeons, that is.
There wasn't any dirt path or big rose to guide Kai; he walked through the tall grass toward the mountain. If Atar didn't mention the name of the dungeon, 'Flame Mountain,' He was sure he would have taken the same path. After all, a mountain that was close to the portal was too suspicious for Kai.
~Raawwr~
A Fire Cat leaped from the ground behind Kai.
Kai was already aware of the Fire Cat; after all, they didn't blend in well with their tails ablaze. It was surprising their tail didn't set the grasslands on fire.
"[Freeze]!"
~Thud~
The Fire Cat was entirely covered in ice; even its tail which was previously on fire was frozen over. The Fire Cat fell to the ground with a loud thud, scaring all the other Fire Cats hiding.
"Break!"
~Crack~
Forcefully breaking the ice, it cracked and shattered into many shards, along with the Fire Cat.
{Earned 400 Experience Points}
"Really? I wouldn't mind farmin-"
"Where is he!"
A shout from afar interrupted him; it was a feminine voice that carried some power. It was the female leader from before!
'Damn'
"There he is!" One of the boys wearing a robe yelled while pointing toward Kai.
'Really now'
Putting power into his legs, Kai ran toward the mountain while attacking Fire Cats that were close to him. He didn't want to take out too many Fire Cats so they couldn't follow him straight away. This way, if they wished to follow him, they would have to go through some Fire Cats first.
{Earned 400 Experience Points}
{Earned 400 Experience Points}
{Earned..}
Tuning out the notifications, Kai focused on getting away while still earning some experience.
"He's getting away!"
"After him!"
Although he wasn't running at his full speed, Kai was surprised to see them catching up to him.
'Coward!'
Looking back, he saw many of the Fire Cats he let live back away in fear. They were supposed to attack them! Yet they're running away!
"[Freeze]"
This time, Kai poured thousands of mana into his spell; he focused on exactly what he wanted his spell to do and look like.
"..."
"How are we supposed to catch him now?"
Kai's spell froze the ground hundreds of feet wide and long. Even little Icicles formed on some of the blades of grass. If they still wanted to chase him, they would either have to run around the giant ice field or break it.
"Damn!" The male leader cursed, staring daggers into Kai's back
Just as his anger was about to reach its cap, what he heard next broke the cap, reaching heights never recorded.
"Hahaha!" Laughter rang throughout the entire first floor.
The other chasers also stared into his back with bloodshot eyes.
The laughter belonged to none other than Kai; it wasn't because his spell was far more than he expected. Although the spell was a huge success, far more than what he imagined would happen. It wasn't the cause of his sudden burst of laughter. No, it was the system notification he got after his spell was completed.
{Tier:0 Ice magic evolved into Tier:1 Black Ice magic}
'Finally, tier:1 magic.'
Manifesting an ice shard in his hand, what he saw shocked him. His ice turned from a light blue into a dark black. So dark that he couldn't even see his fingers through it. And the aura it gave off was deadly cold. It was far colder than his previous ice, but only that it gave off a sense of danger that even made Kai weary of it.
'This is my ice, yet it still gives me such a feeling. This, this isn't normal, is it?"
Unfortunately, there was no one to ask, no one to help him. He would have to wait and ask Atar about it, but could he trust Atar?"
Kai knew Atar was using him for revenge, but that didn't mean Atar had any evil thoughts about him. If everything went according to plan, he would even get powerful evolution out of it.
Touching his ice, he could feel the strength and durability had increased exponentially; Kai was sure if it wasn't his own ice, his hand would've been frozen the moment he touched it.
'I wonder what happened to my magical garden now that my ice has evolved.' Kai thought, thinking back about his ice-blue plant. Now that his ice turned black, would the ice plant react the same and turn black, or perhaps only partially? For all he knew, the color didn't change at all.
'I'll have to check later.'
'So many questions, so few answers. Does Atar know anything about Nightmare City? Is my magic normal? Can I trust him?' Sighing, Kai let go of his thoughts and focused on the present.
He knew his ice wouldn't last long, he could use his new and improved ice, but he didn't want to alert the group that was chasing him.
Dematerializing his magic, Kai started jogging toward the mountain that was now more than ever visible. The mount was hundreds, if not thousands of few high. Red trees with what seemed like fire as leaves covered the mountain, making it hard to see the ground.
What he could see was charred black ground with red lines. Kai wasn't sure what kind of monsters awaited him, but one thing he did know was that he couldn't wait to test his new ice on them.
A grin crept on his face, and it only grew when he saw the all-so-familiar blue portal waiting for him to cross.
"But monsters can only help so much with testing my ice. And if they really want to keep chasing me, well, accidents are common in dungeons; it would be a shame if something happened to those beloved members of the Starla family."
"But where's the floor guardi-"